‘Kaliveer’ in Dogri concludes Samooh Theatre’s play fest

Lalit Gupta
JAMMU, Jan 25: Organized by Samooh Theatre, the J&K Winter carnival—a four-day drama festival, concluded with performance by the Group of two plays at Abhinav Theatre here today.
Today’s major production was the Dogri play Kaliveer. Written by Dr. Gian Singh as a ballad, the play presented a dramatized version of important events of life and heroic exploits of Kaliveer, one of the most revered folk deities of Duggar.
The play begins with friendship of Kaliveer with Raja Mandlik (Gugga), his argument with mother on permission to ride Neeli, the horse, followed by duo’s sojourn to the Gaud Desh (Bengal), Gugga falling in love with the princess, his coming under a magic spell and Kaliveer breaking the spell, followed by heroic duo’s mission to kill the Muslim cow-lifter who had forcibly taken away the ‘Kapila’ cow. The play ends with devotees singing praise of Kaliveer who successfully forces out the evil spirit which had taken possession of a young girl.
Directed by Ravinder Sharma, today’s presentation with minimal sets was conspicuous for Sutradhars who along with the background playing of the ‘karak’ of Bava Kaliveer, provided a perfect narrative to the episodic nature of the plot. The heroic and chivalrous characters of Kaliveer and Gugga came alive through the body language and movements of the actors as well as appropriate costumes which had a Dogra flavour. Other than the music, the light design was noticeable for its aesthetic as well as striking effects.
The cast members included Samdhish, Hempreet Kour, Arayna Singh, Akshit Sethi, Sandeep Manhas, Chetan Charak, Aditya Pandita, Devanshu Raina, Vishal Singh, Heemani Verma, Rashmi Jasorita and Aashima Dutta. Choreography was done by Rohit Bains, music of by Surinder Manhas, lights by Sandeep Thakur, make up by Shammi Dhamir, costumes by Anita Chandpuri, sets and props by Yogeshwar Singh and Yeshvinder Bali.
Directed by Ravinder Sharma, the other play wasVijay Tendulkar’s Papa Kho Gaye by children of Pragmatic Institute of Education. The child artists were Simrandeep Kour, Akash Sharma, Harpreet Kour, Gungun Kalotra, Antrix Kumar, Samaksh, Tanish, Suhani Sharma, Nitish and the main lead by Shanaya Manhas.
D. C. Raina (Senior Advocate J&K High Court), Rafiq Masoodi (Former Secy JKAACL) and Dr Gian Singh were the special guest on the occasion.